RESTORE COOTES

C ATCH News – March 26, 2010 Making the official plan official This week’s denial of the St Joseph’s Villa twin condo proposal could mark a shift in council’s approach to frequent official plan amendments. Councillors’ comments on the recent Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) rejection of a Dundas self-storage facility underlined their concerns that the city has been too eager to change the plan to accommodate development proposals. Brad Clark referenced the OMB decision when he moved the motion to deny the condo plans. He said Hamilton’s official plan might be better named “the official guidelines” and said it was time the city actively defended its plans – a task he suggested had instead been taken up most effectively by Dundas residents who had “methodically” shown that the condo proposal was not consistent with the city’s written policies. In seconding the rejection motion, Brian McHattie endorsed Clark’s position, while Bob Bratina argued that residential intensification projects sh...

King East closure could improve turtle nesting Craig Campbell, Dundas Star News Staff Published on Jan 21, 2010 Closing King Street East near Olympic Drive to car traffic was suggested as an option for making 201 King St. E. a more viable turtle nesting area during Day 6 of the Ontario Municipal Board hearing appealing Hamilton city council's decision to reject a self-serve storage development on the site. Julia Croome, lawyer for community group Protect Our Dundas, raised the possibility of closing the road separating the Desjardins Canal from the subject site, Volunteer Marsh and Lake Jojo during cross-examination of two witnesses presenting evidence on behalf of property owner and appellant Doug Hammond. She raised the idea after environmental consultants Karl Konze and James Kamstra suggested the site was not a preferable option for turtle nesting– although they found five nests on the site and eight nests across the street at Desjardins Canal last summer. After Konz...

Dundas fight moves to OMB TheSpec.com - Local - Dundas fight moves to OMB Developer appeals move to block warehouse near canal Eric McGuinness , The Hamilton Spectator , DUNDAS (Aug 25, 2009) Environmentalist Julia Kollek says the citizens' group Protect Our Dundas and several individuals will join Hamilton city council in fighting off an Ontario Municipal Board appeal aimed at winning approval for a self-storage warehouse almost beside the Desjardins Canal. First Dundas Leasing Ltd., owned by J. Douglas Hammond of Ancaster, is appealing council's rejection of a rezoning application. Hammond is the former owner of the nearby Canadian Tire store. Opponents say the two-hectare property on the northwest corner of King and...

Owner files OMB appeal Council rejects plan for storage facility near Olympic Craig Campbell, Dundas Stars News Staff Published on May 08, 2009 No mediation meetings or hearing dates have been scheduled in the Ontario Municipal Board appeal of city council’s decision to reject applications for a storage facillity development on King Street East. Karen Kotzen of the OMB confirmed the appeal from property owner Doug Hammond, through the City of Hamilton, on April 23. Councillors on the city’s planning committee and the full city council both unanimously rejected the application to construct four storage buildings on 201 King St. E. at Olympic Drive, within the Cootes Paradise environmentally significant area. Councillors rejected a planning staff recommendation to support the rezoning and official plan ammendment applications because of concerns about the report’s accuracy and completeness, and extensive public opposition. Submissions from some commenting agencies were not included or co...

MOE probes Biedermann plant permit Eric McGuinness, The Hamilton Spectator, DUNDAS (Apr 17, 2009) The Ontario Environment Ministry is reviewing an air emissions permit for the Biedermann pesticides packaging plant, where a huge fire in July 2007 flushed toxic chemicals into Spencer Creek, killing thousands of fish. The review results from a request filed under the Environmental Bill of Rights by Environment Hamilton, which continues to press for greater regulation and scrutiny of the Head Street plant that packages insecticides, rat poison and fertilizers. At issue is a certificate of approval for a dust collector on machinery that handles a variety of toxic chemicals. Environment Hamilton is asking specifically for stack tests to ensure nothing hazardous is being released into the air. Calling the review "nothing unusual," Biedermann technical director Brian Peirce said: "We keep our equipment very well maintained. There's nothing we're hiding." Biologist ...

Rezoning request denied TheSpec.com - Local - Rezoning request denied Owner says he's not giving up on Dundas storage plan Jackson Hayes , The Hamilton Spectator , (Feb 18, 2009) Doug Hammond's plans to build a self- storage facility in Dundas hit another speed bump yesterday as his rezoning application was denied by the economic development and planning committee. And though he anticipates another rejection when city council votes on the committee recommendation next week, he says the fight could be far from over. "This is going to fall on the taxpayer," Hammond said after the committee's unanimous vote. "The city is going to have to hire a planner ... but that...

Authority, city should swap land: Councillor TheSpec.com - BreakingNews - Authority, city should swap land: Councillor Eric McGuinness (Hamilton Spectator) Hamilton Mountain Councillor Tom Jackson suggests swapping city land for a vacant Dundas site that conservationists say is key to a potential urban eco-park that expands the Cootes Paradise nature sanctuary. He and five other directors of the Hamilton Conservation Authority voted unanimously Thursday night to oppose rezoning two hectares at King Street East and Olympic Drive for a self-storage warehouse. Their position now goes to city council’s economic development and planning committee, which will consider the rezoning application Feb. 17. The directors’ action supports a unanimous recommendation by c...

View the Eco-Park Document here Make Cootes national park, group urges TheSpec.com - Local - Make Cootes national park, group urges Create eco-park in urbanized area Eric McGuinness , The Hamilton Spectator (Jan 28, 2009) The idea of a Cootes Paradise National Park is being revived by local conservationists. But they say it is jeopardized by plans for a self-storage warehouse beside the Desjardins Canal at the east entrance to Dundas. They point to a new vision of an urban eco-park -- maybe a national park -- incorporating the Cootes marsh, drafted by Urban Strategies Inc., the firm responsible for McMaster University's campus master plan among other Hamilton projects. Joe Berridge, a partner who has helped reshape waterfronts in Toronto, New York and London, produced the concept document at the invitation of Ben Vanderbrug, retired general manager of the Hamilton Conservati...

HCA is offering mediation for storage dispute Gateway site would make ‘a lovely community acquisition,’ chair says Richard Leitner, Dundas Star News Staff Published on Jan 16, 2009 The Hamilton Conservation Authority is offering to host talks aimed at finding a friendly way to stop a controversial proposal to build a self-storage facility at the eastern entrance to Dundas. After more than two hours of presentations and discussion, board directors last week deferred voting on a resolution opposing the development to allow for a meeting between proponent Doug Hammond and a group of residents headed by former Dundas councillor Joanna Chapman. Authority chair Chris Firth-Eagland said he’s encouraged both Ms. Chapman and a lawyer representing Mr. Hammond committed to meet to review options for the vacant property, located at the northwest corner of King Street and Olympic Drive. He said the two-hectare site, purchased by Mr. Hammond from the former regional municipality in 1999, “would make...

Conservationists want warehouse alternatives TheSpec.com - Local - Conservationists want warehouse alternatives Eric McGuinness , The Hamilton Spectator , DUNDAS (Jan 9, 2009) The Hamilton Conservation Authority wants to try to broker a deal to find alternatives to a proposed warehouse at the Cootes Drive entrance to Dundas. A motion to oppose rezoning the two-hectare site at King Street East and Olympic Drive was tabled last night after lawyer Brian Duxbury, representing landowner Doug Hammond, agreed to meet Joanna Chapman and other citizens opposed to the project. Duxbury said he was asking the city's economic development and planning committee to defer action on the application until Feb. 17, after the authority's next board meeti...

Development opponents seek support Conservation board to discuss construction proposal Craig Campbell, Dundas Star News Staff Published on Jan 02, 2009 Opponents of a proposed storage facility within the Cootes Paradise ESA are appealing to city councillors to quash recommendations for amendments that would pave the way for development. The Hamilton Conservation Authority’s board of directors is scheduled to hear two public presentations and discuss a report on the proposal at a Jan. 8 meeting. A City of Hamilton planning staff recommendation to permit rezoning and official plan amendments to allow a commercial storage facility on property currently zoned “parkland” is expected to be considered by city councillors on the Economic Development and Planning Committee on Jan. 20. Over the past two weeks, emails have been circulated from concerned residents to Mayor Fred Eisenberger, and some city councillors, expressing opposition to the development and requesting support – apparently focu...

Pavement near marsh is bad thing: chair Craig Campbell, Dundas Star News Staff Published on Dec 12, 2008 Hamilton Conservation Authority staff cannot determine when fill was placed in Volunteer Marsh, next to the site of a proposed storage facility development at 201 King St. E. within the Cootes Paradise environmentally sensitive area. As a result, the authority cannot have the fill removed, and return the wetland to its originally functioning condition, said HCA watershed planner Nora Jamieson, who approved a rezoning and official plan ammendment for the corner property at King Street East and Olympic Drive to permit construction of a four-building storage facility. “We’re dealing with what’s there now. I don’t know who placed the fill there or when it was done. We deal with what’s there today,” Ms. Jamieson said. But Patricia Chow-Fraser, chair of biology at McMaster University, said degraded wetlands shouldn’t just be left alone or be covered with more fill. She supports the restor...

New debate over Cootes building plan TheSpec.com - Local - New debate over Cootes building plan Eric McGuinness The Hamilton Spectator DUNDAS (Nov 13, 2008) There's new debate over development on a privately owned property near Cootes Paradise that McMaster University once proposed turning into an off-campus parking lot. J. Douglas Hammond of Ancaster, former owner of the Dundas Canadian Tire store, wants to rezone two hectares on the northwest corner of King Street East and Olympic Drive to build four self-storage warehouses. McMaster gave up on its parking-lot plan five years ago in the face of stiff opposition from Friends of Cootes Paradise and ...